Valve



May 30, 1961 D. w. MOORE 2,986,368

VALVE Filed July 24, 1958 24 CAUSED FIG. l 2s OPEN "im" m xxx l; 205

/NvE/vroR D. w. Moom United States F,

This invention relates to control means for hydraulic valves and in particular to control means for a hydraulic i valve which will enable the valve to either open or closeA gradually over a predetermined time interval.

Sudden pressure changes frequently occur in fluid cir-v cuits and their occurrence causes undesirable 'eiects in tamed May. sans@ ice Figure embodied inea/:practical unitary valve assembly;

aud v.

l Figure 3`is a cross-sectional view of a portion'of Figure 2 showing an alternative construction.

Q'Referring now to Figure 1 a cylinder 10 may be seen which is provided with an end wall 11 at one end and,

manyinstances.Y In the fuel line of a'gas turbine engine, 5 for example, sudden pressure changes mayY result in compressor surge which can cause considerable damage to an engine. Y. To -avoid sudden pressure changes it becomes vnecessary to provide fluid circuits vwith means for absorbing or el iminat ing such surges. Spring loaded valves and` -accumulators are in common use for this purpose but serve only to absorb the pressure change after it occurs and are unable to prevent its occurrence. v

Sudden pressure changes when a valve in a hydraulic system is opened or closed could be prevented to a large extent if the Valve were provided with means4 to control its rate of opening and closing thereby permitting a gradual pressure change. Such a valve might be mechanically controlled by an external device but this Would require the use 0f a additional mechanism WhCh WUld fluid inletconduit 16 in the direction of the arrow when by itself, require control.

. A preferable solution wouldbe the provision of -a control means for a hydraulic valve which, by the nature of its construction, would inherently open or close slowly, preferably at apredetermined rate which may be adjusted. Sucha system is provided by the present 4invention in which a comparison between theoutletpressure of .the valve and a reference pressure is used to operate a valve. The reference pressure is made to follow a predetermined fixed relationship with time and, accordingly, by caus; ing the outlet pressure to follow the pressure change in the reference pressure, a valve is provided which opens. and'clo'ses at a predetermined rate. The comparison between `the outlet pressure and the reference pressure is made by means of a piston which is subjected to outletY pressure on one side and the reference pressure on thev other side, thepiston mechanically opening and con, trolling the valve which controls the ow offluid throughthe device. l Y In an alternative embodiment of the invention the .ref-ly erence pressure and the outlet pressure act on` pistons of different areas so that the reference pressure may. be electively multiplied and, accordingly, the actuation of the valve is controlled by only va relatively small portion of the reference pressure range and, as a result, only the. desired portion of pressure variation in the reference pressure may be selected to control the valve operation# The invention is described with reference to a pre-v ferred embodiment of construction illustrating the invention which is disclosed in the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals denote like parts in thev various views and in which: 1 Figure l1 is a schematic view of a hydraulic "system embodying the invention;

Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view of thedevice 'of` at the other end, a second end wall 12. Y A piston 13 is provided Iin the cylinder Iand carries a piston =rod 14 which extends throughjend wall 12 and'which, at the end externally of the cylinder 10 is mechanicallyconv nected to afvalve 15 for controlling the flow ofuid' through the line 16. j

End wall y12. of cylinder 10 is, in addition, providedV with a port 17 which is connected, by means of a first' conduit 18 with the line 16 downstream from the valve 15 at point 19.. 'A second port 2 0 is provided in cylinder 10on that side of piston 13 remote from the first conduit. 18 and this p ort 20 ist connected, by means of lines, 21 and 22 Ato the line 16 upstream from the Valve 15v at.y point 23.

A third port 24 is provided adjacent end wall 11 ofv the cylinder 1 0 which port'is connected, by means of line 25 to a source of pressure Vlower than that in the line-16 upstream from the valve 15. This line 25A may be connected in communication with port 20 by means ofconduit 26 through a three-way two-position valve 27 which, in the position shown in Figure l, connects con-A duit 2 1 with conduit 22 and, hence, port 20' withline 16.

A flow restricting orifice 28 is shown, in Figure 1, asbeing positioned in line 22 but, as will later appear, it

g may, in certain circumstances,' be placed in either line 21 or line 26. j

Having described the general construction of the schematic system shown in FigureV 1 the function of this arrangement will now b e described.

High pressure fluid from a pump (not shown),V enters either the pump is set in operation or, alternatively, 'when a mastercontrol valve somewhere upstream inline v16 is opened. yThis high pressurefluid will exert a pressure' onjline 16sl1ownin Figure l which will be termed P11, as may be seen in the drawing. Let it also be assumedv f or the` present purposeof description that valve 15 is in the closed position. Let it also be assumed that the line lydownstream lfrom valve 15 leads to a device suchas afuel nozzle in a gas turbine engine and that, accord-- ingly,-the pressure in line 16 downstream'from* the valve 15 is, v vhenj valve 15 is closed, substantially lower than that in the line 16 upstream from the Valve 15. Since, valve 15 is closed iluid may not flow through the valve 15 in line 16 and, accordingly, a pressure P1 is'retained upstream of the valve. Through conduit 22, orifice, 28 three-way two-position valve 27 which, for the 'purposes of the present description,'may be consideredto be--in the position shown in-Figure 1, and conduit 211,- fluidwill ow intochamber 29'above .piston 13A in-thefdrawf` ing. The uid' ilowing through the flow restricting' orifice 2 8 will experience a pressure drop a's it does so and, acf cordingly; the pressure in chamber 29 will be `lower than;v pressure P1 and this lpressure is indicated as pressure P2, it bei ng understood that pressure 2 at thisV time is less than pressure P1'.l y:

.As P2 in chamber 2 9 rises, a second iioating-r piston A30 which is spring biased by means of a compressionv coilspring 31 towards a stop 32 will begin to move away from. piston 13 and will continue to do so untilthe pressurev P2 in the chamber 29 is suflicient to overcome any forces:` restraining the movement of piston 13 which willthen move down uin Figure 1 to open the valve 1 5. As valve 15 opens, pressure inl chamber'33 will risefand eXertQO'u-s tending to restrain the downward movement of the piston' "2,986,358, l t e.

Accordingly, as soon as valve 115 vopens veryslightly a pressure in chamber 33 will-begin to develop which will restrain the tendency ofthe piston 13a-.toppen thevalve further land this restraining influence -will'slow down ,the movement of piston 13 andprevent valve 15 from being opened almoste'instantaneously. Pressure in "chamber will continue to build up until ultimately it equals the pressure P1 in line 16. By this time the valve 1'5fwill v i In Figure 2 parts corresponding to those parts shown schematically in Figure l will be given the same reference numerals with the numeral 1 placed before them. Accordingly, chamber 29 in 'Figure 2 will be indicated by reference character 129 and those parts in Figure 2 which do not have any counterpart in the schematic drawing Figure l will be indicatedbyreference characters within the range of from 200 to 299. In Figure 3 parts corresponding to those parts shown in Figure 2 will bear the sameyreference.. numeralsbut those Parts. having .DQ counterpart in Figure 2 will bear reference numerals within the range of from 300 toV 399.

Referring now to Figure 2 thevalve Vmay be seen to I be embodied in'a casing 200 which may be formed from a substantially solid -block by suitable machining pr-actices. It will be seen that the body 200 is provided, at the upper end (as seen in Figure 2) with an end plate 201 which is securedto the body 200 by means such a pressure P3 in chamber 33 somewhat below P1 Y:in line I 1 6 and, accordingly, a flow of huid through the line 16 will `be established. Ixrorder to 'stop the ow ofuid throug'li'the line and to close va1ve`15 itis merelynecessaryto move the two-position Ythree-way valve 27 to connect conduit 21 with conduit26 which would suddenly dump the fluid in chamber 29 into line 25 thereby suddenly making pressure P3 greater than pressure P2 and, accordingly, snapping the valve 15 closed as quickly as uid could be forced from chamber 29l through conduit 21, valve 27, conduit 26 into line 2S.' f

From 'the last sentence above, it will be apparent that' if it is desired to produce a valve which will close slowly rather than open slowly it is-necessary to move thetlow restrictingoriiice 28 from its presentV position in line 22 to a new position in line 26.- lIf this is done and pressure-P1 `exists in line 16 then as soon as the three-way two-position valve 27 is moved to the position shown in Figure l a pressure equal to P1 will immediately be built up in chamber 29 which would suddenly snap the valve 15 open due to the immediate downward movement of piston 13. `As soon as the two-position threeway valve 27 was then moved Vto connect conduits 21 and 26 the pressure P3 would-cause piston 13 to move up as quickly as fluid could be forced through a ow restricting orilice placed in line 26. This, of course, would slow down the travel of piston 13 and, accordingly, a valve would be produced which -would close slowly.

i It may now also be seen that if it is desired to produce a control system for valve 15 which will enable the valve -to both open slowly and close slowly it is necessary to move the ilow restricting orice 28 from the=conduit 22 to the conduit -21 where it will influence the pressure of Iiuid flowing through it both into the chamber 29 and out of this chamber.

The l'line'25 is connected to the cylinder 10 above piston 30 'through port 24 solelyfor the purpose of providing an escape for any luid in this portion of the cylinder 10 which may leak past the piston 30. Similarly the stop 32 vis provided in the cylinder :10 to limit the downward movement of piston 30 so that it will not close ol or restrict port communicating with conduit 21.

It will also be apparent to one skilled in the art that under normal operating conditions all the chambers and conduits within the valve will normally be full of fluid and there will be no air bubbles present. Accordingly, P2 will gradually rise from its dormant pressure to the operating pressure which, ultimately, will equal pressure P1. Similarly, chamber 33, conduit 18 and line 16 downstream from the valve 15 will also be full of nid and, accordingly, there will be no time lag during which these areas vll up with tluid but the pressure transmission will be instantaneous due to the presence of 4tiuid therein.

Having described the general principle of the invention in relation to aschematic diagram vreference will now be made to Figures 2 and A3 which illustrate one form which the invention may take.

as bolts 202 which are received in threadedk apertures 203 at suitably placed points in the body200.

' wall 111'for the cylinder, and at the other end, by means movement in cylinder 110. -A port 117 is' provided in cylinder in communication with a conduit 3118 through which fluid may pass out of the valve assembly. A second cylindrical chamber 205 is provided surrounding the valve seat 204 and the valve and this chamber 20S is in communication with port 206 which leads to a drilling constituting a lluid inlet line 116 of the valve. Bach of conduits 118 and 116 is provided with a conventional 'coupling portion 207 and 208 to which suitable 'uid lconduits may be secured.

` jAlso slidable in cylinder 110 -is a second piston T30 which is spring biased by means of a compression coil spring 131 towards a stop 132 formed on the inner surface of cylinder 110. That portion of cylinder l1 10 above piston 130 is provided with a port l124 whichis fin cornmunication with Va line which leads to a sourceI of pressure below that occurring inline `116. Line 125 recited in the claims as a uid sump passage, in practice, will lead to a fluid sump (not shown) which, vas in all aircraft hydraulic systems will be pressurized above atmospheric pressure but at a pressure much lower lthan pump delivery pressure from the sump.

'i Chamber 129 is in communication with line 116 up-A stream from the valve 115 by means of a drilling 121 recited `in the-claims as a second iluid` control passage, avalve seat 209,l a flow restricting orifice 128, a filter 210 which liesin an enlarged chamber or conduit 122 recited in the claims as a first fluid control passage.

Intermediate drilling 121 and the v-alve seat 209 is 'an' enlarged third cylindrical chamber indicated generally by reference character211 which contains one form which the two-position ,three-way valve 127 may take. This chamber v211, at its upper end, is also in communication with line 125 through a drilling 126 recited in the claims -as va third control passage.

Within the generally cylindrical chamber 211 there is positioned rstly, a cylindrical sleeve 212 of non-magnetic material which, at its upper end, surrounds the end of drilling 126 and bears against the lower face of end plate 201 to form a seal thereagainst thereby extendingdrilling 126 downwardly into chamber 211. Within the cylindrical sleeve 212, adjacent the upper end thereof, is a plug 213 which is provided with a centraldrilling 214 and which, at its lower end, is formed with a frusto-conical valve rseat surrounding drilling |214. Slidable within the non-magnetic sleeve 212 is a cylindrical magnetic armature-2151 which is urged, `by means aosases of a compression spring 2176 bearing, at o'ne end, against alshoulder'217 on the sleeve 212 v and,"at`the other end, against "a ilange 218 extending radially outwardly from the lower endof armature 2.15 ina downward 'direc'- tion` against `valve seat* element 209. Each end ofthe armature 215 is provided with `a resilient plug 219 insertedin a recess kso that when-the armature is in either its uppermost or lowermost position this resilient plug will bear against the frusto-conical valve seat element andlformtan efiicient seal. v v

-' Bxternally of the non-magnetic cylindrical sleeve 212 isfan'electrical winding 220 forming a solenoid with the armature 215, the coil 220 having external electrical connections through an opening 221 in the'wall of the body 200 bymeans of conduits 222.

-lHaving described the construction of the preferredembodiment shown in Figure 2 itsk operation will' be brieily described and compared With the operation described with reference to Figure l.

The 'valve shown in Figure 2freceives uid from the high pressure-source through port-206 and, accordingly, transmits uid under pressure P1 bymeans of line v116 into chamber 205 where pressure P1 will exist. In addition, fluid will pass through iilter 210,7orif1ce 128, valve seat 209 "(when'th'e armature 215 is in the position shown in Figure 2) and thence into `chamber 21-1, through drilling 121 into chamber 129 where, due to its passage through orifice 1728, -a pressure P2 will existwhere P2 is less than P1.' K P2p-will rise with the lapse of time until P2 is s uf- 'cient to move piston 113 downwa-rdly to move-valve 115 oi valve seat 204 and to admit fluid to chamber 133 beneath piston 113. The pressure in chamber 133 will be represented by P3 which will be less than P1 and which, in addition, will be less than P2. If pressure P3 were to exceed pressure P2 as, for example, by a sudden overopening of valve 115, the pressure on the underside of piston 113 would tend to move it upwardly to close valve 115 thereby reducing pressure P3 to a point below pressure P2. As pressure P2 builds up in chamber 129 piston 130 will, of course, move away from piston 113 against the inuence of spring 131 until pressure P2 equals pressure P1 due to the pressure of spring 131 equalling pressure P1. At this point no further ow of uid may take place through the orice 128 and the valve 115 will, accordingly, be completely opened and a flow path through the valve will be established through chamber 205, past Valve 115 into chamber 133 and out through conduit 118.

In order that armature 215 be in the position shown in Figure 2 it is necessary that the solenoid 220 be energized. To this end an electrical current is passed through the solenoid windings through conduits 222 from a suitable source (not shown) and armature 215 is moved in a vertically upward direction (as seen in Figure 2) so that resilient plug 219 is in engagement with the frusto-conical valve seat surrounding drilling 214 in plug 213. As a result, fluid may not escape from chamber 211 or from chamber 129 and the open condition of the valve 115 will be sustained.

In the event that it is desired to close Valve 115 at the electrical circuit energizing solenoid windings 220 will be broken and, accordingly, armature 215 will move downwardly under the influence of coil spring 216 to break the communication between conduit 122 and 121 and to establish communication between chamber 129 and conduit 121 and conduit 126 through a series of spiral grooves 223 cut in the external surface of the armature 215. Thus, iluid may escape from the chamber 129 into conduit 125 through passage 121, chamber 211, spiral grooves 223 and drilling 214, conduit 126 and into conduit 125 thereby reducing P2 to below that of P3 so that piston 113 will move upwardly as seen in Figure 2 to close valve 115.

As was described with reference to Figure l the flow restricting orice 128 might be mounted in the position occupied by plug 213 in which` case the valve 115 would close slowly due to the fact that flowof uid from chamber 129 to permit the upward movement of piston 113' Wou'ldbe restricted thereby slowing vdown themovement of the piston lin this direction. Similarly, placement of a flow restricting orifice 128in conduit 121 would produce the effect of a slow openingl and a slow closing valve 115.1y Y vSincev the flow characteristics through the iow'restrict-x ing-orifice 128 will not follow a linear relationship with time but the flow will tend to reduce as P2 approaches P1 the movement of the piston 113 and valve 115 will not be ata constant rate. If it is desired that it be at a constant rate it is possible to multiply the effective pressure at P2 so that the movement of the pistonf113 will take place druing a shorter period of time and during a time when the rise of P2 follows a linear relationship with time.v4 The means for accomplishingthis is shown in Figure 3 wherein piston 113 is supplemented by a secondary smaller piston 301 lying intermediate piston 113 and valve 115. VThe smaller piston 301 slides in a portion 302 of reduced diameter in cylinder andthe presence o'f piston 301 provides an additional chamber 303 between piston 113 and piston 301. Since, in Figure 3, pressure P3 may act upon only thefsmaller area of piston 301 where.- as pressure P2 acts upon the 4much larger area of piston 113 it will be seen that the valve 115 will move to its fully open position in less time than Will be required by the equivalent construction shown in `Figure 2. In addition this vmovement will take place duringthe initial portion of the pressure rise of P2 and, accordingly, the movement of piston 113 and valve 115 will follow a relationship with time which is closer to a linear relationship than that of the device shown in Figure 2.

The ow restricting orice 128 will be seen to be in threaded engagement with the body 200 of the valve and, accordingly, is removable and exchangeable with other orifices of smaller or larger diameter. As a result, the time interval between initial energization of solenoid Winding 220 and the full opening of the valve may be varied at will.

Havirng described the invention in principle with respect to a schematic drawing having illustrated a preferred embodiment which the invention may take it is believed that it will be seen that control means for a hydraulic valve has been provided which will enable the valve to either open or close slowly, following a predetermined relationship with time and means have been provided whereby both a slow opening and slow closing may be achieved. No external control means are provided, the slow opening and closing characteristics of the valve being inherent in its construction and being achieved by comparing the outlet pressure of the valve with a reference pressure derived from the inlet pressure of the valve and compared across a movable piston which actuates the valve mechanism.

The invention has been described in detail with reference to a specic embodiment which is intended to be illustrative only, the scope of the invention being dened in the appended claims.

What I claim as my invention is:

l. A Valve for regulating the ilow of uid in a line comprising a valve body, a rst cylindrical chamber in the valve body, a second cylindrical chamber in the valve body coaxial with the rst cylindrical chamber and separated therefrom by a partition which is provided with a central aperture constituting a valve seat and dening a ow passage, a first piston in the rst chamber and a valve element in the second chamber, the first piston and the valve element being connected by a piston rod so that movement of the first piston in the first chamber causes actuation of the valve element in relation to the valve seat in the second chamber, a second piston in the first charnber spring biassed towards the first piston and located bya stop out of contact with the rst piston at the limit of its travel towards the rst piston, a fluid inlet passage communicating with the second chamber, a iluid outlet passage.

communicating with the first `chamber between the rst piston and the partition, a third cylindricalchamber in they valve body, a rst duid control passage communicatingwith the third cylindrical chamber from the fluid inlet passage, a second'fluid control passage constantly communicating with the third cylindrical chamber and the first cylindricakchamber between the first piston andthe second piston and a uidsump passage constantly comrnunicat# ing with the first cylindrical chamber on thatside ofi the secondpiston remote from the rst piston, and an external sump, a third flu-.id control passage communicating between theA third cylindrical chamber and the sump passage, and means within the third cylindrical chamber reciprocable along the axis of the third cylindrical chamber toclose'the third iluid control passage communicating between the third cylindrical chamber and the sump passage land open the iirst iluid control passage communieating with the third cylindrical chamber from the `fluid inlet passage in one position and,` in 'its other position, to' close the first iluid control passage communicating with the third cylindrical chamber from the iluid inlet passage and to open the third liuid control passage communicating between the third cylindrical chamber and the sump passage and a How restricting orifice in the first Huid control passage between the -fluid inlet and the third cylindrica l chamber.

2. A valve as claimed in claim 1 in whichthe means reciprocable along the axis of the third cylindrical chamber is the armature of an electrical solenoid, the windings 8 of which are positioned within the third cylindrical cham-k ber but vsealed from contact with the Huid by vmeansofa. cylindrical sleeve within Whichythe armature may frecipf rocate. f C p, 1 t fe; :fla i 3. -A valve as claimed in claim 2 in which the arma-3- ture isv spring biassed into onejof its-two' positions. -l 4. A valve as'claimed in 2 in which the electrical winding actuating the armature is controlled 4from a point; rcf mote from thevalveA .K f i yl 2v 5. A valve as claimed in claim 2 in which, in theuid passage `communicating between the fluid inlet passagefand thev third'cylindrical chamber. there is provided ailuid lteni ,6., A `valveas claimed 1in-claim 1 in whichk both-,- the first fluid control passage communicatingt-.betweengthe fluid inlet passage and the third cylindrical chambergand the thirdiiuid control passage communicating with the third cylindrical c haniber-and` the sump passage enter; the third; cylindrical-chamber through ports-which are-concentric with the circular end walls of therthirdcylindrical` chamber" and whichkports constitute valve. seats against 'which the-reciprocable means may seat -to open one andi close the 'other ofA the two respective ilu-id control pasl sages. 3 Y v I References Cited'in the le of this vpatent Y UNITED STATES PATENTS 

